When a motor vehicle collides with another object, the force of the collision will often cause the door to become jammed shut. This problem occurs because portions of the door become trapped behind the door striker. This may occur in motor vehicles of unibody construction by a shortening of the vehicle frame in front end and rear end collisions, which causes the door striker to be forced into the door edge, so that the door surrounds and is trapped by the door striker. In sideways collisions, the door may be extruded behind the door striker by the force of the collision. As a result, it often requires extraordinary effort to remove trapped motorists from the vehicle. If the motorist has been injured in the collision, the delay in extricating the motorist may impede rapid medical treatment.
This problem has arisen with door strikers commonly used in the industry. For example, the basic door striker 400 shown in FIG. 4 which is generally bolt shaped suffers from this problem. So too does a well known prior art door striker which has a staple shape. Each of these designs is undesirable in a collision because they permit portions of the door to become trapped between the door striker 400 and the door pillar 406 in the areas shown as 410. The trapped door portions prevent the door from being readily opened.
A door striker 500, shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed to alleviate this problem. Door striker 500 comprises a bolt 502 and separate J-shaped piece 504. Bolt 502 is mounted to the door pillar 506. The J-shaped piece has an aperture 507 through which the bolt 502 extends, and a lip section 509 which fits into area 510 adjacent the door pillar. It has been found that this design is unsatisfactory in practice, because in a collision, the door will still extrude around the bolt and/or the lip section 509 of the J-shaped piece 504 will deform, permitting the door to become jammed behind the bolt 502 in the area 510. Moreover, since the door striker 500 is secured to the door pillar by a single fastener, the force of a collision can cause the bolt 502 to be displaced away from the J-shaped piece, also allowing the door to be trapped behind the bolt 502. In addition, the single fastener design is not desireable since it may in time become loosened and may detach from the door pillar.